Palliatively Speaking with Dr. Toby Campbell Ep 11 - From Founder to Successor

Title: From Founder to Successor

Summary: 

Guest: Matt Gonzales

Guest’s guest: Ira Byock

This episode offers a masterclass in humanizing healthcare. Join host Dr. Campbell for a fascinating conversation with Dr. Matt Gonzalez, a software engineer, a palliative care physician, and a leader overseeing 51 hospitals on the West Coast.

The conversation begins with a discussion on the future of empathetic care and the critical importance of presence. Dr. Gonzales argues that the system must be redesigned to allow clinicians to do what they entered medicine to do: connect. He shares the monumental success of scaling goals-of-care conversations from 7% to 85% across the Providence health system, which is an accomplishment he attributes not to lecturing clinicians, but to dismantling systemic barriers and "making the right way easy."

The discussion shifts to lessons about leadership as Dr. Gonzales is joined by his mentor, Dr. Ira Byock. Together, they unpack the secrets to a successful leadership transition—built on trust, joy, and the courage to lead from a place of love, not fear. Dr. Byock shares the crucial wisdom for a founder to truly let go, allowing the next leader to step into their own authentic skin.

To close, our guests explore a future in which AI handles paperwork, freeing doctors for the sacred work of listening. But Matt issues a crucial caveat: AI can generate the perfect empathetic words, but without genuine human intent and authenticity behind them, they are remain empty words.

This episode is an inspiring look at the leaders who are putting the "care" back into healthcare.